May 17th 2015 - Plastic tub boat

May 17th 2015 - Plastic tub boat

Lil man has a plastic box outside (bigger than A4  and about 10cm deep) that he keeps all of his sand pit toys in, but it has no lid!  This means that the rain can get in it, this isn't a big problem as the sand pit toys are all plastic.

It has rained a fair bit over the past few days so there is loads of water in it.  Lil man has decided today to remove all the sand pit toys so that he has a boating lake for his toy boats (bath ones) and those for his toy soldiers. 

He had 1 toy soldier in each boat as thats all he could fit in.  I saw 1 of my small plastic tupperware tubs (margerine tub size) near the sand pit (no idea what its doing in the garden but never mind!)  So I got it and put it in the water, lil man was impressed it floats!  So I told him to put his soldiers in it and he said "but it will sink Mummy".  I told him to try it.  He puts 1 in and was happy it still floated, so I told him to put another in.  Again he was happy it still floated.

Anyway he turns round and says " I bet it would sink if I put 10 soldiers in it".  So I told him to try.  He ran indoors and fetched more soldiers and started putting them in the tub.  All I hear is "Mummy, it still floats with 10 soldiers in it, i'm going to add more" as he runs past me and upstairs.  He comes down with even more soldiers and goes back to his tub of water.

I go outside and see what he's up to and he now has 15 soldiers in the tub and it still floats!  The tub is full and he can't get anymore soldiers in it as they are pilled on top of each other.  He says "I know how to  make it sink......" and proceeds to fill the "boat" with water to make it sink. lol!

What he didn't realise was that his innocent playing was actually learning and numbers and science of floatation.  Play to learning and all through a tub of water,some boats and soldiers. All was good until he decided to see if his shoe would float and he took it off and put in the water - it didnt float and he now has a wet shoe!  BOYS will be BOYS!!!